Running Out of Turbo
by LovelyFarron
Summary: Stranded in a strange city without the TARDIS, the Doctor, Amy, and Rory find themselves in the middle of a place that's so perfect that it's flawed. Just what is the Objective? Who are the mysterious Reception Women? And why are the Doctor's former Companions popping up out of nowhere with no memory of him whatsoever?


TV Show: Doctor Who

Genre: Adventure/Romance

Rating: T

Summary: Stranded in a strange city without the TARDIS, the Doctor, Amy, and Rory find themselves in the middle of a place that's so perfect that it's flawed. Just what is the Objective? Who are the mysterious Reception Women? And why are the Doctor's former Companions popping up out of nowhere with no memory of him whatsoever?

Running Out of Turbo

Chapter 1

"I really don't like this."

The Doctor frowned, his brow wrinkling in concentration as he tried to decipher the strange map that was forming inside his head. He blinked his eyes once, twice as the neural implant that they'd all been required to have injected into the top of their necks before entering the city began to work inside his brain. It was rather annoying, having to go through such a thing. Even more annoying—and a little humiliating—when the Reception Woman (for he did not know what else to call her) gave the space/time-traveling group a blank stare after Rory had asked if the neural implants were permanent and if not, how they were to be removed and if they were, well…He had turned to the Doctor at that point and asked if they could just leave the city behind and fly off to some new location.

"I don't know about you two but I don't exactly want to have some…some…computer chip inside my head!" he had said, repressing a shiver at the thought. "Makes me rather uncomfortable to think about." He then had squinted his eyes as his medical brain had tried to figure out how the chip would work. "How would it even connect to the proper synapses if it's being injected into our _necks_?" he had asked.

"Top of the neck sir," the Reception Women had corrected. "And don't worry, it's perfectly safe." She had titled her head slightly, her curled blonde hair not moving one inch from its heavily hair sprayed location and her lifeless blue eyes staring in a dead, blank look at the group. "Everyone knows that."

Rory had sniffed in a haughty manner. "Yeah…yeah I'm sure they do. I'm sure they understand every lick of what's been done to them."

Amy had looked at her husband with an expression that was a cross between exasperation and embarrassment. "Oh come on Rory!" she had said. "One little chip isn't going to kill you!" She had rolled her eyes then, letting out a long-suffering sigh. "Honestly!"

Rory had crossed his arms and turned halfway to look at her. "Do you know that for certain? That's it's not going to take over my nervous system or fry my brain?"

She had stared at him blankly.

"Yeah, I rather thought not," Rory had grumped.

"Oh, and you do?" Amy had shot back.

"Seeing as how I am the resident nurse," –and here he had stood a little straighter and puffed out his chest—"I would say…yes."

Amy had opened her mouth to counter when the Doctor had cut in.

"Please Ponds!" he had said, coming between the feuding spouses. "I would rather like to visit this place! Never heard of it before! Vir Tual City! Interesting name, don't you think? And besides…" He had licked his lips here and fought the grim look that had wanted to spread across his face. "The TARDIS is gone."

Amy and Rory had whirled around, panic on their faces, only to discover that their alien friend was right—the TARDIS was nowhere in sight. Both of their faces had held expressions of shock, Rory's mixed with dismay. They were stuck there. So, with no place to go and no means of travel, the Time Lord and his human sidekicks had done the only thing they could do: register as new citizens of Virt Ual City. Now they were wandering the large city, trying to figure out just where they were exactly, what mess they had wandered into this time, and where the TARDIS had been spirited off to.

"Oh do be quiet Rory," Amy said rather crossly from beside the Doctor. "I don't like it either. And I'm quite sure the Doctor doesn't, what with the TARDIS being gone and all." She paused, a grim look spreading across her previously irritated face. The TARDIS meant a lot to the Doctor, more than Rory and even possibly her understood. It was more than a machine, it was a living being and the only thing left of his home…She gave her head a little shake, pushing the depressing thoughts from her mind. "Well, will fix this. Right, Doctor?" She paused, waiting for her raggedy Doctor to back her up. The response she was expecting didn't come and with a frown marring her pretty features she looked up into the face that had haunted her dreams ever since her childhood. "Doctor?"

"Hm? Oh what? Yes, yes, of course," the Doctor responded, icons flying in front of his eyes. Amy and Rory couldn't see what he was doing since this was all in his head and courtesy of the neural implant and the two exchanged confused glances as his eyes seemed to be experiencing some sort of nervous twitch. In actuality, he was going through the list of things he could access, hoping that a map was among the many listed items somewhere. He needed to find the TARDIS—fast. Be it through completing the mysterious Objective that everyone came to do, as the Reception Woman had told them at her booth, or by other devious methods he didn't care. He just wanted his box back. What was he without it? Just a Madman with Nothing?

Losing the TARDIS—again—had upset him a lot more than he was letting on. Sure, he'd lost it before and they had seen him worried about it but this time things felt different. This time lots of things were different. Like, for instance, he couldn't remember their arrival clearly in this strange place, a place where in all his years of travel he had never heard of. It was curious and a bit frustrating but it also screamed of mystery and foul-play, two things he loved. So despite having minor twin heart attacks upon realizing that the TARDIS had gone missing, he was determined to make the most of his TARDIS-less situation. It couldn't have gotten very far in the short amount of time they had been away from it and no one could get inside of it without a key (unless they had Dalek tech and he highly doubted that) so he wasn't too worried about someone having stolen it for joyriding purposes. Chances were that the local authority, whatever they were, had seen the blue box and had been startled by its foreignness to them and had snatched it up for examination. It was at times like this that he wished the chameleon circuit worked, needless to say. Of course Donna had told him how to fix it but he hadn't really been paying attention, seeing as how his best friend's mind was on the verge of a meltdown, and now she wasn't _her_ anymore, not _his _Donna…

A chill crept up his spine and he shivered as something like guilt took a bite out of his stomach. Shaking his head, he pushed the thought of his Doctor Donna to the back of his mind and concentrated on the tasks at hand—finding the TARDIS and figuring out where he was.

"Doctor. Doctor!" Amy was saying impatiently, as he came back to himself. "What are you doing?" Her striking eyes were intensely focused on his face, worry working up her eyebrows.

The Doctor made a face as his concentration broke and the images that only he could see scattered as if blown by a fierce hurricane gale. He shook his head again and blinked several times as his eyes adjusted to what he was seeing before him. A lopsided grin formed on his face as he saw the Ponds staring at him, Rory with concern and Amy with slight irritancy quickly replacing worry.

"Takes a bit getting used to, these neural implants," he said. He noticed that they had stopped walking so he started them up again, placing one lanky leg in front of the other.

"What do you mean?" Rory asked nervously, his voice an octave higher than normal.

"Oh, don't worry Rory it's nothing harmful," the Doctor reassured him. "I know why they gave us the neural implants though."

"Why?"

"Simple enough. We can access things like our funds—by the way they have their own currency here and we each start out with 2000 Zenny it seems. Rather nice of them to be so generous since we've given them nothing in return. I'd check my own account if I were you."

"We can do that?" this time it was Amy who spoke. She looked intrigued, much to Rory's dismay.

"Oh yes," the Doctor replied, smiling.

"Well…how do you do it?" Amy asked, scrunching up her face as she tried to access her bank account. "I can't seem to do it."

"You just have to concentrate Pond," the Doctor said. "Think about wanting to know something, about wanting to find something out. You have to want to see it, to want to know something. The command will be relayed to the neural implant and the neural implant in turn will call up what you need to know. Sort of." He paused, thinking. "There is a bit of wading through you have to do. Picture a menu and going through the options. That sort of thing."

The group continued on in silence for a few minutes as Amy and Rory both tried to access the mind menu. The Doctor looked around and took in the sights as they continued on in their efforts to discover what it was he had been checking out moments before. His attempts at locating the TARDIS had failed and it seemed as if there was no building that contained any sort of security or enforcement. He had, however, accessed some sort of newspaper and read that if one wanted to find things out one went to the Seventh Heaven. The Seventh Heaven, as far as he understood it, was a bar and his finest hope at finding information out about where his TARDIS had gone.

He'd also gone through the "Craig's List" of places for sale for newcomers and had found one quite within their combined price range, assuming that Amy and Rory and the same amount as he did, that would accommodate the three of them quite nicely. He wasn't quite sure how long they'd be staying there but he wanted a place where they could continue their investigations in private and therefore had forgone hotels. Although, they might be forced to rent a room at some point from one of the numerous and luxurious hotels that dotted the city; the place was more like the size of Utah than a city.

"Hey!" Rory exclaimed after a minute. "Just what the hell is going on here?"

The Doctor looked over at his male companion, bobbing his head slightly. He'd rarely heard the man use only coarse language, but he supposed it was to be expected considering the circumstances. "Oh. So you've discovered that, eh? I was wondering when you'd notice."

"Wondering when I'd…!" Rory sputtered ungracefully. "Why I…! Amy!" He turned to his ginger-haired wife, eyes wide and mouth drawn in a thin line. "Do you see what they've done? What _he's_ done?"

Amy nodded her head slightly. "Yes."

Rory looked at her, flabbergasted. "'Yes'? Is that all you can say?"

Amy shrugged. "I don't see what the big deal is."

Rory's mouth went slack with shock and his eyes bulged out even further. "What? Big deal? Big deal! You're _my _wife, not _his_!" he practically screamed, flinging his arms out in exasperation.

Amy rolled her eyes. "Rory. It's you. It's always been you. Now stop fussing."

But stopping fussing was not in Rory's plans. The man trotted a few paces in front of his wife and friend (whom he was considering dubbing rival or arch-enemy or something of the sort), turned to face them, and put his hands on his hips, not moving. Amy narrowed her eyes slightly and stopped moving along with the Doctor, lest they pump into the agitated man in front of them. Amy crossed her thin arms across her chance and shifted her weight to her right foot, assuming a sassy and no-nonsense posture. She was not in the mood to be messed with.

"Rory, it's ok," she said with a bit of an edge to her voice.

"No! See this is not ok! Doctor!" Rory looked to the Doctor in his desperation, slightly annoyed that his wife didn't seem to mind the mix-up. "Tell her that this is bad! They've mixed us up! And…and…" his eyes narrowed as he read something else, "You've got me registered as a doctor!" He threw out his hands in an agitated manner. "I'm a _nurse_! There's a difference!"

The Doctor shrugged, his hands in his pockets and body relaxed. "Come now Rory, I think you'll be a very competent doctor. Not like me of course, but a good doctor nonetheless. Besides…I didn't see any openings for nurses when I registered us and we can't have you lounging about doing nothing now, can we?"

Rory snorted. "That is the last time I let you register me for anything, ever. Or Amy for that matter."

"Oh come now Rory don't you think you're overreacting just a tiny bit?" Amy asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"No!" Rory exclaimed, looking at her now. He frowned. "And what did he make you? Besides his wife that is?"

Amy let out a long sigh and rolled her eyes again.

"That was an accident I'll have you know," the Doctor commented. And it had been. Something hadn't been translated correctly when he'd been filling out the forms, probably due to the TARDIS's vanishing and he'd made a mistake. When he'd read about it on his ID screen he had felt a bit bad but things could have been worse he supposed. He could have said that Rory was his evil twin or something.

Rory, however, did not see things the way the Doctor did and just glared daggers at him.

"I'm a…well it seems that I'm the Doctor's Assistant," Amy said, ignoring the glare her husband was giving her best friend. "Hm. Sounds right to me."

"Oh really? Huh," Rory made a weird face. "And, pray tell, what is the Doctor?"

The Doctor smiled. "Why! An Adventurer of course!" He took his hands out of his pockets excitedly and rubbed them together, eyes flashing with glee. "Adventurers get access to the Outside Realms and, seeing how I need access, preferably _legal_ access, to places and have a knack for adventuring as it is it was only natural that I be one!"

Rory rubbed a hand across his face, already weary from the day's events. "Great. Good for you."

"Oh you'll get over it!" Amy said, waving a dismissive hand at him. "And when this is all over I'll give you a special treat."

Rory's eyes perked up at this and his hand dropped away from his face. "Really? You will?"

Amy smiled, not looking at him, her eyes having gone back to looking at things only she could see. "Yes. I'll let you sleep on the bottom bunk for a change."

Rory moaned.

-0-0-0-

After Amy and Rory had thoroughly combed through their mind menus and discovered that they indeed had as much money as the Doctor they had searched for a place to have dinner and discuss what house to buy. Amy had figured out how to "bookmark" several of the houses she liked into a folder and had from there sent them to the Doctor and her husband. The Doctor had been impressed with her quick adaptation to the neural implant and had jokingly remarked that he'd married up in intelligence. That had gotten him an angry glare full of warning from Rory and had gotten Rory a light slap on the shoulder from Amy.

Now the three sat outside at some place that was a cross between a café and what seemed to be similar to an Asian restaurant. The large white and red striped umbrella that was connected to the glass table in front of them lent them shade against the slowly descending sun in the sky. They sat in metal chairs with plush padding for sitting, making them quite comfortable. The city itself was much like the café/Asian restaurant, being a blend of cultures and species from across time and space. Appearance-wise it best resembled a mix between an ancient Japanese village and a 30th Century New York City.

"Em," Amy said suddenly, sipping on her strawberry smoothie. "What do you guys think of House 221b?

Both men called up the house in their minds and examined it. If there was one thing they both had to admit, it was that Amy had good taste. The house she was looking at modestly priced, 3500 Zenny, and was a decent size. It had four bedrooms, a kitchen, two full baths, a living room, and a small backyard. It was located in a suburb not far from where they were eating and was well within walking distance of the busier hub of this particular district of the city and far enough away from the even busier center of the city's main district.

"Looks good to me," Rory said. "I'd go for it."

The Doctor nodded. "I agree. Let's settle on this one." He grinned and looked at Amy mischievously, his eyes twinkling. "It'll be a great place to raise the kids, don't you think dear?"

Amy laughed, tossing her head back in her merriment.

Rory glared at the Doctor for what had to be the hundredth time that day. "Not funny."

The Doctor's grin only widened as he took a sip of the Coke he'd ordered. The place actually served a drink famous to Time Lords and he'd been surprised to discover it there along with other several of Earth's popular drinks but had gone with a simple Coke. If there was one thing that humans had done right, it was creating delicious and refreshing cavity-inviting soft drinks. "Oh don't be such a stiff Rory! I'll let you play with them if you promise to be nice!"

Rory opened his mouth to respond but was cut off as the tentacle-headed blue waitress brought them their food. She was an attractive thing, humanoid in appearance besides the two tentacles that curled down slightly below her shoulders from the top of her head, and had proved to be very helpful in clearing up some details about the city when the group had first sat down. She had known immediately that they were newcomers and had welcomed them by name. It had been a bit unnerving at first and made them all a little wary but she had explained that those in service positions such as hers got updates to her neural implant that alerted her that there were new and therefore inexperienced citizens about. Interestingly enough, she had kept her eyes on Rory for most of the conversation and as she delivered food it seemed that she still was.

"Will that be all?" she asked cheerfully, leaning a bit towards the scrawny man.

Rory gulped nervously and nodded, agitated by the thought that he might be getting a lot more of this attention from both human females and aliens alike because of his "unmarried" status.

"Yes, thank you," Amy smiled at her politely.

"No problem," the waitress said. "I'll be back every few minutes to check on how you're doing. Will you be having dessert after this you think?"

The Doctor shook his head. "No, we've got much to do tonight."

"Alright then," the waitress smiled. "Who will be taking the bill then?"

The Doctor gestured at Rory. Rory, halfway into a bit of steak, nearly gagged. "Me?" he yelped. "Why?"

The Doctor made a fake-disgusted face. "Come now Rory. There you are single and free, a doctor no less! You'll have plenty of money to spare in the days to come. You can't expect me or Amy to pay; we're poor after all you know. Adventurers that want to raise a family an all." He shook his head and heaved a heavy sigh. "Honestly Rory, cut us some slack!"

-0-0-0-

The walk to where their new house was located took about twenty minutes. It turned out that they didn't need to go to any place and have to have the thing signed over to him. All they had had to do was send the money via use of their neural implants and then the house had been rewired to accept their hand prints at the door and let them in. The Doctor had to admit he was beginning to enjoy the simplicity and ease with which everything could be purchased in the city although it was a bit unsettling at the same time. Nothing should ever be _that_ easy. But, he supposed, the work they would all have to do to support their group would probably not be quite as easy and would make up for their fortune so far.

Amy and Rory were a few paces behind him, discussing something that didn't really concern or interest him. It was often like that on the TARDIS, the two of them reminiscing about something while he daydreamed. It didn't bother him that they did that, in fact, it did quite the opposite. It was a bit warming to see the couple interacting like that, reminded him of his own family back before the War. Of course while they were in this place where Amy was supposedly his wife Rory would have to cut down on any displays of affection in public but inside the house was an entirely different thing. Unless there were cameras.

"Ah! Here we are Ponds!" the Doctor said (and he had actually registered them as Amy Pond and Rory Pond which would lead people to guess that since she was married to the Doctor that Rory was her brother) as they neared the long road that led into their subdivision. "Home!" He stretched out his hands in a dramatic manner and turned around to look at his Companions. Flashing them a cheesy smile, he continued to walk backwards, totally unaware of his surroundings. "Well, almost home."

Instead of the pleased looks he'd expected to see, he saw horrified ones etched across the faces of husband and wife.

"Doctor!" Amy cried out.

"Look out!" Rory shouted.

The Doctor titled his head, puzzled. Just what-?

Before he knew what was happening, there was a shriek, and then a loud "Oof!" as he bumped into someone behind him. Letting out his own shout, he fell to the ground, hands flailing and eyes wide.

"Ooohh…" he moaned as he landed part way on top of the person, his head smacking into the pavement behind him. He blinked once, twice, to clear his vision. He wondered briefly if this would affect his ability to use the neural implant.

"Get off!" cried the voice of the person he had landed on.

"Oh! Sorry!" he said, quickly trying to right himself.

Amy and Rory were at his side in an instant, Amy tending to him and Rory to the woman he had run into.

"Oh Doctor," Amy huffed, fixing his bowtie as he ran his hands across his body. "You do need to be more careful." Not stopping in her task, she turned her head slightly and called out to her husband. "Rory! How is that poor woman?"

"She's fine!" Rory called back. "Just a bit shocked and a little bruised I think." He looked at the woman as she straightened her navy blue jacket. "If you would look at me ma'am, I'd like to make sure you aren't concussed."

The woman looked at him, brushing her red hair behind her shoulders. Her grayish-blue eyes spoke of pain but didn't seem to give hint as to any other more serious harm. "I'm alright," she said. "Just a bit bruised as you said." Her voice was calm though a hint of anger lay just beneath the surface.

The Doctor stiffened as she spoke, the effect of her voice on him not lost on Amy. She looked up into his brown eyes, concern etched into her face as she saw the worry in his. "What's wrong? Doctor?"

The Doctor looked at her, then to the side, back at her, and then to the other side, his mouth working but no sound coming out. His twin hearts were fluttering rapidly in his chest and his tongue was dry. A cold sweat threatened to break out across his skin as the voice he had heard evoked memories of a person that he had left behind, of a person that he had had to leave in order to save her life, of a person that couldn't see him, couldn't be with him, for her sake. For a moment his entire mind shut down, on the verge of panic and confusion. It couldn't be possible, it just couldn't. No way, no how. Just no.

"Doctor? Doctor!" Amy whispered urgently, her fear rising. "What's wrong? Tell me!"

The Doctor just simple stared off into dead space, numb to the core. Amy's mouth kept moving and she shook him a few times but that did little to break him out of reverie until she stomped quite hard on his foot, eliciting from him a small yelp of surprise and pain.

"I'm sorry," Rory was saying as the Doctor's sense gradually returned to him. "My friend he tends to be rather like a bull in a China shop. As soon as I get my practice set up I insist you come see me for a free consultation." He hesitated slightly before adding, "I'm a doctor, you know."

The woman laughed, and it was a sound that nearly ripped the Doctor's hearts out because he thought he'd never be blessed enough to hear it again.

"Oh no, I'm fine," she said. "I can tell that you're all new here; I read it on the Post just a little bit ago."

"Ah," Rory said, smiling. "Then perhaps you could do us the honor of being my first client—for free of course— in this place? I'm Rory Will—Pond," he corrected, frowning slightly. "But you probably already knew that, didn't you?"

She nodded. "Yes, but introductions from the actual person are so much nicer, don't you agree?"

"Oh yes, very much so," Rory agreed.

"Anyway," said the woman, smiling and extending her hand. "I would be glad to be your first client and first friend. My name is—"

At this point the Doctor chose to cut in, spinning around with dizzying speed, pain written across his pale face. "Donna," he said, swallowing hard. "Your name is Donna Noble."


End file.
